LINCOLN- The final tab for Gov. Pillen sending 61 Nebraska National Guard members to help Texas patrol the southern border of the United States in August was $826,000. This number came as a result of the public records request sent to Pillen's office. Projections from the National Guard placed that number closer to $2 million.

Pillen's deployments, which included several others in May and early June, which cost roughly $128,000, echo those of his predecessor, former Gov. Pete Ricketts, who spent nearly $2.5 million in deploying Nebraska National Guard and Patrol to Texas in 2020 and 2021. Nebraska was reimbursed by Texas for the 2020 deployment, but not for 2021.

The State Military Department covered the most recent deployment, using its $12.2 million general fund budget, with Pillen saying that he intends to utilize part of more than $1 billion in federal pandemic recovery funds to refill the Guard's coffers. This has drawn some criticism, and State Sen. Carol Blood believes that pandemic relief funds could be used more effectively, such as for public health.

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